Monday, October 28, 2013

By Sophie Loubiere

Rating: 4 and a 1/2 out of five stars

The French novel The Stone Boy is a curiously strange tale of
psychological suspense. The premise involves an elderly woman, Madame
Préau who, after a long period of convalescence, comes home to a changed
neighborhood. She is pretty much alone except for a housekeeper and a
son who visits her periodically and seems to be distant and untrusting.
Her closest neighbor is a family with apparently three children. One of
the children, an older boy, is always seen separately from the others
and, to Madame Preau's eyes, appears to be neglected and bruised. But
the agency that investigates child abuse tells her that no child exists.

Of course, being a novel of psychological suspense, nothing may
be as it appears. The author begins her novel with a vague but
important back story and we know little about our protagonist at the
beginning except she is probably mentally unstable, maybe dangerously
so, and not all that likable. Loubiere has a talent for giving you only
what information you need at the time, an essential attribute for this
type of story. This novel did not grab me at first but as I read it but I
was soon unable to put it down. When I did put it down, I found myself
thinking about as if I was putting together a puzzle. What does this
mean? What is the reality and what is in her head? The ending, which I
will not reveal of course, was worth it and, I must confess, made me
slightly teary-eyes. But was it a good teary-eyed or a sad teary-eyed?
You'll have to read the book to find out.

Good psychological
novels, especially those that involve a person of questionable mental
stability, are hard to come by. The most common problem is that often
authors do not know how to made a mentally ill protagonist
full-dimensional without falling into stereotypes. That is not a problem
here. Madame Preau is quite real with little stereotyping and endowed
with a clear and believable pattern of decompensation. In fact, I would
say it is the prime reason this novel works. The novel is moved along by
third person narrative and enhanced by letters and notes by Madame
Preau that lets us know more about her and the workings of her mind as
the story progresses.

The only weakness in the novel is an
occasional feeling of awkwardness and stiffness in the narration,
especially at the beginning. It's one of those things I can feel but not
necessarily put my finger on. I am inclined to think that may be a
problem with the translation rather than the author. But it quickly goes
away as we delve deeper into the mystery.

Overall, this is one of
the better psychological thrillers I have read in a while and well
deserving of more attention in the English-speaking world.At the time of this writing, The Stone Boy appears to be only available as a Kindle eBook from the Hatchette Book Group.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

By Orson Scott Card

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

I originally wrote this review of Ender's Game on Goodreadsin 2011. It was a reread, having read it first in 1983. It has been one of my most popular and controversial reviews. I have re-posted it here due to the release on Nov.1st of the film.I believe it was A. E. Van Vogt who said, "The Golden Age of Science
Fiction is 14." And in fact, much of the classic science fiction of
Heinlein and others feed into the mind of the adolescent boy. The
protagonist Ender is an adolescent's dream. He is alone, alienated and
feels he is not appreciated for how special he is. In other words, he is
the average teen male or at least how the average teen male sees
himself. Add on the naive and egotistical worldview envisioned by
Heinlein and it is no wonder why adolescents flocked to the science
fiction pulps of the 50s. In fact it can be argued that the teen sci-fi
fan of the 50s was not all that different from the Emos of our
generation.

Ender's Game was written in 1986. Yet it reads very much like a Heinlein novel and the plot and themes are not all that different from Starship Troopers.
Card was smart enough to add in video games and the internet as waves
of the future but the old Cold War mentality and the "might is right"
philosophy hangs on. This is why this somewhat sadistic journey of a six
year old child to his role as sci-fi messiah is so disturbing. Ender is
brilliant but it is his habit of extreme violence that attracts him to
his superiors. This appears to be a virtue in the author's eyes. In
fact, one of Ender's teachers spell it out in no uncertain terms.

"The power to cause pain is the only power that matters, the power to
kill and destroy, because if you can't kill then you are subject to
those who can, and nothing and no one will ever save you."

Keep in mind this is being said to a six year old boy.

This
is the basic theme of the novel. Violence is never extreme enough if it
is for a good cause. This idea is never really questioned by Ender or
anyone. At the end there is a twist that appears to lay doubt. However
is not the basic moral issue in question but the assumption that sets
the means to the end in play

This is why I cannot give this novel
anything more than two stars. Card isn't a bad writer although some of
his action scenes are muddled and he had an annoying habit of changing
to third to first person and back for no reason. This was his first
novel but I've never read anything else by him so I don't know if he
developed any better habits. But this kind of philosophy in any story,
especially one that appeals to teens, is disturbing to me. I'm OK with
the idea of a young boy with talent being challenged and persecuted. It
is a stalwart of YA literature. Harry Potter is an excellent example.
But Card seems to preach "If you can't beat them, join them but just be a
better fascist than they are."

While we are on the subject,
Orson Scott Card is also known for his rather conservative social and
religious viewpoints. One of those is his opposition to gay marriage and
his basic revulsion to homosexuals in general. So why does his book
have so many scenes of young boys running around and wrestling in the
nude? Not to mention that the aliens are nicknamed "Buggers". I see some
major issues here. Mr. Card, please seek help.

Friday, October 25, 2013

By Stephen P. Halbrook

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

When I was offered Gun Control in the Third Reich: Disarming the Jews and "Enemies of the State
to review, I was filled with quite a bit of curiosity. In 2013, when
there seems to be a shooting a day by some disgruntled person, there is
quite a discussion going on about gun control and the 2nd amendment. A
lot of it on both sides is hyperbolic and weak with facts. One of those
analogies you see quite often on the anti-gun control side is about the
Third Reich in Germany in the 30s and 40s. The basic argument is that
Nazi Germany had gun control and it either led to or was an important
factor in the rise of Hitler and it could happen here. On the other
side, the pro-gun control side states that using this is a ridiculous
statement in that gun control was not the reason that the Third Reich
occurred. So a serious, non-hyperbolic look at what actually went on in
Germany during the rise of Hitler could actually be helpful to know.

The
first thing to be aware of is who wrote the book and who published it.
And, for that matter, who is reviewing it. Stephen P. Halbrook has
written extensively on gun rights and the second amendment. The
publisher is the Independent Institute, a Libertarian think tank whose
basic stance on this topic is that any restriction on gun control, no
matter how small, is anti-constitutional. My own position is that I
support the second amendment but understand that some restrictions, like
gun registration, may be necessary to protect that right and to prevent
abuses, just like there are minimal restrictions to the right to free
speech and the right to assembly to protect people against irresponsible
and harmful behavior. In the arena of gun control debate, I would
probably be considered moderate or in the middle. In most other things, I
would definitely be considered liberal. So there is the philosophical
starting points for all to see.

My first reaction to this book
was how well researched and devoid of preaching this book is. Halbrook
did an impressive job of researching his subject and preventing his
viewpoint from overpowering the facts. He starts his look into German
gun control laws in 1918 when gun possession was pretty much prohibited
and severely punished. He continues to the gun control laws of 1928 by
the relatively liberal Wiemar Republic that allowed possession of
firearms but called for national registration. In the 30s the Nazis took
control of the country and used these laws to firther restrict gun
possession and to search for and find arms possessed by those they felt
were a threat to the regime. In 1938, a new law was passed that forbade
"enemies of the state", and specifically Jews, to possess firearms. The
Nazis massed an aggressive campaign to seize weapons and arrest anyone
against their government, securing the control of the country to Hitler
and the Third Reich.

My synopsis is quick and simple but suffice
to say Halbrook present detailed evidence of this scenario. Much of this
evidence is claimed have been made available only recently. The author
does not claim that the gun control laws caused the rise of Hitler's
Third Reich but he does make a good case in that it was a significant
factor in its success and was also a factor in the lack of armed
resistance in Germany during this time. I also think he made a good
case for the idea that any law restricting human actions, not just gun
control laws in my opinion, have consequences and should be monitored
for the potential of abuse by the government.

I really admired
Halbrook's research and presentation. The historical facts seem not in
dispute. However what can be in dispute is the intent and conclusion of
the author and the publisher. For the question now is how much of this
can be related to our current national and world environment. While
Halbrook's book for the most part appears "to the facts" there are
occasional statements that made me wonder. In the introduction of this
book, the author states a movement in the United States exists that
claims firearms should only be allowed for the military and police.
That seems odd to me since I know of no group that takes that extreme
and, if there is, it would be a very insignificant movement. I do know
that pro-gun registration groups are commonly attacked as wanting to
take's guns away from everyone when it is simply not true, I wondered if
what I read was an example of that mentality. Another instance happens
when the author relates an instance in the 30s in which a German Nazi
attacks a Jewish family with a blunt weapon and a gun. The author
implies that this incident in another culture would be used as
propaganda against the Aryan using the weapon. I was very mystified
until I realized that these sentences could have been written in 2013
during or after the incident in which George Zimmerman shot Trayvon
Martin with a gun and could be implying Zimmerman was used in some form
of propaganda attack, even though what actually happened is still
disputed in most circles. I may be totally off here but I can't think of
any other interpretation. I would love to ask the author what he was
meaning or implying when he wrote that paragraph.

For the most
part, Halbrook wisely leaves us to make our own conclusion but he is
certainly trying to lead us to certain ones. I have my own questions
needing answers in order to offer a conclusion. For instance, there is
no doubt that Germany's laws, even those of the alleged "Liberal" Wiemar
Republic, were much more restricted than anything existing or even
proposed in America. Is it fair to compare one country with a tradition
of second amendment gun rights to a country where such rights would be
basically unheard of. Also, taking the current world situation in mind,
all countries in Europe and Northern America, in other words most
developing countries, have gun control or registration with America's
laws being the weakest. I would be hard put to see where any of those
democratic countries are in danger of heading toward tyranny at this
time even if certain extreme conservative groups love to yell words like
"Tyranny" when addressing the current administration.

Another
interesting conclusion that the author makes is this. If there were not
gun control registration laws in Germany, there could have been an
effective resistance by both Jews and people against the Third Reich.
That is one of those speculations that is hard to prove but I would
essentially agree with it in the abstract. However, I do want to point
out it is not a slam dunk. It is good to remember that at about the same
time and across the Atlantic, Japanese-Americans were being rounded up
into relocation camps with no apparent opposition and resistance despite
the existence of the second amendment.

I do think we need to be
very careful at what solutions we use even though I think national gun
registration is essentially a sensible solution if done correctly. What I
don't understand is why conservative groups, meaning in this case
Republicans, are so concerned about the possible abuses of gun control
laws while they actively pass laws that force pregnant women into
invasive ultra-sound procedures just for considering their legal birth
control options or pass voter ID laws that will effectively curtail the
right of minorities and women to vote under the guise of preventing
non-existent voter fraud.

So I think the conclusions can still be
argued. But I do commend the author and the publishing country for
providing a sane and well researched look at a part of history that is
usually drowned in insinuations and exaggerations. I think it would be
good for both sides to read this book, weight the information and the
discuss the right way to address gun control issues using more sense and
less accusations.

I want to thank the author, the Independent
Institute and Netgalley for allowing me to read and receive this book. I
suspect the author and publishing company may not be happy with some of
my review but hope they will take solace in the fact that I actually
enjoyed and work and found it informative. I also hope they appreciate
that, in this particular instance, they were not preaching to the choir.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

By Chris Brosnahan

Rating: 3 & 1/2 stars out of 5

Chris Brosnahan wrote POV in 30 hours. In fact, it was the
winner of a 30 hours competition for the best novel written in that
frame of time. For that alone, POV is impressive. I can barely
write a short story in 30 hours. I guess you could be a nitpicker and
say that, at 87 pages, it barely qualifies as a novella...but I'm still
impressed.

But is it good? Yeah, It is really good. It's a nice
mix of science fiction and thriller centering around a future technology
in which a person can receive a device inside their eyes that can
change their view of the world; change the color of your car, make your
partner into a movie star, make yourself thinner, etc. The resulst are
only viewable to you, or least that is what we are told from the
beginning, but I think you can see the advantages. Our optometrist hero
discovers that someone is killing the people that are receiving this
new tech from him.

That's enough to know except to expect a few
sharp turns. It's a good story especially considering how much the
author placed in it with a 30 hour time limit and 80 odd pages. But
that's the problem with it too. There's so much this could have easily
been a longer novel. I wanted it to be a longer novel. Some things
happen too fast and could easily have survived more build-up and
emotional embellishment. Not that it didn't have that, mind you. I just
wanted more! More! More!

I guess that's a compliment too. I'm not
sure it is a fair criticism since the author set out to do what he
needed to do and did it well. I gotta stick with my gut feeling. But
here's a bit of unsolicited advice. There is a tradition in the science
fiction genre for authors to take very popular short stories and rewrite
them into novels. If any work is screaming for a longer rewrite, this
is it.

There are also 4 other brief pieces included in this
ebook. All of the tales are quite good with "The Warning" and "The Happy
Pills" being fairly awesome.

Monday, October 21, 2013

By Andersen Prunty

Rating: 4 & 1/2 out of 5 stars

Of all the new writers in the past five years, Andersen Prunty is the
one that most impresses me. Writing in the indie ghetto called Bizarro.
Prunty has the unique talent of being able to be off-the-wall in a
surrealistic Dali sort of way yet can grab onto the readers' emotions
and show parts of themselves they may have never accepted. He has one
foot in Psycho Land and one foot in Everyman's earthly angst. He is the
only writer that I can read and yell "WTF!" while simultaneously
thinking, "Yeah man, I hear you!". He's a weird cross between Vonnegut,
Kafka, and Wiley Coyote.

Sociopaths in Love is a good
example of his work. We are introduced to a rather boring girl named
Erica who takes care of her invalid grandmother. Walt enters her
apartment, rapes her, shoots Grandma in the head and Erica falls
instantly in love ready to follow him into what he promises to be a
liberating experience. His mantra is "I can do anything I want" and that
anything will include rape, murder, cannibalism, and a few other
perversions we won't go into now.

Are you still with me? You
haven't ran away in disgust? Good. Because this is one book where a
brief description of the plot doesn't do it justice. Walt has the
ability to go unnoticed which allows him to steal, eat in restaurants
without paying and kill with impunity. Erica discovers she has the same
ability. In one instance, he wheels a wheelbarrow with a corpse in it
through a hotel lobby without anyone raising an eyebrow. This is the
sort of thing that can only happen in Prunty's world. Walt's ability to
be ignored, to be almost invisible, seems to copy a sociological
condition called Alienation; the state or experience of being isolated
from the society to which one should belong or in which one should be
involved. Walt has turned alienation into a life style...no..an art
form...in which he does the most repulsive thing with no real disfavor
or emotion. Erica is pulled into this world with some hesitation, at
time being repulsed but also being intrigued. This is falling in love
with the bad boy taken to the ultimate extreme. Prunty is doing his
thing by turning an understandable dilemma into the grotesque and
unspeakable.

This is not for everyone. I think most people will
be disgusted by the excess gore and violence. In fact, the reason I
didn't give this 5 stars is because I felt the extreme violence of the
story did go overboard at times in the extent that it causes the reader
to lose the connection with Erica and Walt. They may be unlikable but
there is something magnetic about their relationship. Maybe you can't
identify with having a boy friend that eats people but I bet you can
think of a past relationship you had in which you stayed too long with
the only reason to stay being "I love him".

Prunty's strength is
that he takes these human dilemmas to extremes and puts them in a
surreal universe where the weirder it is, the more acceptable it
becomes. Horror novels, and perhaps Bizarro, is all about placing
yourself in an environment you never want to be and allowing it to be a
cathartic release. But great horror also uses that cathartic release to
allow you to see something in yourself or your environment that you can
now deal in a more positive state of awareness. Sociopaths in Love is great horror.

Friday, October 18, 2013

By Joseph A. Turkot

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Neighborhood Watch appears to be categorized as both a mystery
and a horror novel. The basic premise is about three boys who see a man
taking pictures of them with a camera. Since there is a missing child in
the neighborhood, they wonder if this man may have something to do with
it. They start a club to solve the mystery and everything springs from
that idea. It certainly isn't horror. While there is a minimal amount of
suspense, there is nothing the least bit horrific in its pages. As a
mystery, it doesn't quite work because the solution is broadcasted in
the first few pages and everything afterwards is anti-climatic. I did
keep waiting for some genuine scares or at least a foreboding feeling
but the plot simply moved too slow to allow anything of the sort. The
end picked up some but by that time it was simply too predictable. I did
appreciate the author's attempt to depict an calm and idealistic
community being shaken out of its slumber. But I also wished I cared a
bit more about the three boys as I suspect the connection you make with
these kids will affect your enjoyment of the novel. It wasn't a bad
book, just not that memorable.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

By Nenia Campbell

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Wow! Big surprise here. I was browsing the pages of my Goodreads friends
and notice Nenia was making a couple of her books free on Kindle for a
few days (No. Don't tell me. I know. I'm cheap) I grabbed Wishing Stars: Space Opera Fairytales
because the idea of melding fairy tales with modern sci-fi and fantasy
seems so Angela Carter. And I adore Angela Carter. Campbell's collection
include both short fiction and poetry. The poetry is quite good but I'm
not really qualified to analyze it. I can't even rhyme "moon". But the
short stories are very creative, each one a sci-fi retelling of a
traditional fairy tale. Think the Brother Grimm meets Doc Smith. The
style is old fashioned space opera which suits me fine. As for the
author, she tends to mix in a few genres, like horror and romance into
the space opera/fairy tale mash-up. She is also quite adept at creating
aliens with real personality that actually involve the readers. Here is a
rundown of the five stories.

"Deep Blue Nightmare" is a
retelling of Bluebeard and is suitably terrifying. Despite it's colorful
aliens and a nice helping of traditional science fiction themes, it is a
fairly straightforward horror tale.

"Clockwork Roses" is a
version of Grimm's Briar Rose aka Sleeping Beauty with a nice gender
switch. The author's talent for fantastic descriptions really stands out
on this one.

"Quantum Diamond" is the most macho of the tales,
even though it is based on Rumpelstiltskin, and is the one that remind
me the most of Doc Smith or maybe Harry Harrison from his Stainless
Steel Rat days. It's my favorite of the bunch.

"Iceheart" is
the most romantic of the tales . I can't place the fairy tale it is
based on. (but I bet this is the one that made you cry, am I right,
Nenia?)

"Blood of my Blood", The last and somewhat weird(er)
tale, asks the question; What if Snow White was a clone? It takes a
close second in my best-of list for this book.

Add on the poetry
and this makes for a very successful introduction to a talented writer.
If it is still free...consider yourself lucky. But it is definitely
worth paying for.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

By Robert McCammon

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Speaks the Nightbird is a surprisingly excellent novel by Robert McCammon. Perhaps I should explain why I say "surprisingly."

I
have read a lot of McCammon, almost all of it pre-21th century. In
fact, McCammon stopped writing in 1992 and didn't return to writing
until 2002 when this novel was published. The author is always
entertaining. However his earlier works were often derivative. So much
so that there was was a rather cruel joke going around in the horror fan
circles of early eighties...

Q: What is Robert McCammon's next novel?
A: Stephen King's last novel.

In my opinion, his best novel before 2000 was The Wolf's Hour which itself was a pastiche of werewolf tale and World War II adventure books.

But I guess a ten year hiatus did him good because 2002's Speak the Nightbird,
which has just been reissued as an ebook by Open Road Media, is quite
original and is now my favorite McCammon novel. It is a historical
mystery novel set in Colonial America, the Carolinas to be specific, in
the year 1699. Magistrate Issac Woodward and his young clerk Matthew
Corbett travel to a struggling town for a trial of an alleged witch. The
town of Fount Royal is slowly deteriorating due to what the
townspeople feel is the work of witchcraft. The young woman in question
is charged with the murder of her husband and the town's minister. What
follows is a long (800+ pages) but always fascinating mystery. This is
one of McCammon few non-supernatural novels and the first mystery I've
read by him. He seems to relish the genre, filling the story with close
calls, red herrings, amusing detours, and a feeling of dark suspense. He
catches the times well using accented dialogue sparingly, just enough
to set the mood but not too much that it loses the reader. Matthew
Corbett is the "star" of the tale and he is quite the budding detective.
Highwaymen, Indians, lost treasure, and one very nasty bear all make
this a rather rollicking adventure. I'm sure there may be other mystery
tales set in Colonial America but this is the first one I've seen and it
felt quite original. I understand the author wrote two sequels
featuring Matthew Corbett. I will be sure to put them on my "To read"
list.

Monday, October 14, 2013

By Lance Carbuncle

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

A warning to those who laughed their way through Lance Carbuncle's first two bawdy romps. You will laugh through Sloughing Off the Rot
too but it will be the kind of uncomfortable laughter that comes from
handling donkey bezoars; a object you will be quite familiar with once
you finished this bizarre masterpiece.

Carbuncle's new travesty
is quite different than anything he wrote before. While the wicked humor
is there, as well as the scatological word feast and the multitudes of
cultural references from rock lyrics to literary and religious sources,
the author has risen to a weird psychedelic form of seriousness; a tale
that is a sort of The Wizard of Oz as told by Carlos Castaneda. It is an
intense spiritual journey down a red brick road as John the Revelator, a
man who wakes up in a cave with no sense of who he is and why he is
there, travels through a purgatorial wilderness loaded with creatures
like zombie-like Lunkheads and sexually irresistible Blumpkins. John is
aided by a group of guides that feels an awful like an id, ego and
superego set-up, not to mention the bezoar-puking Alf the Sacred Burro.
All of this madness is steered by Carbuncle's manic over-the-top style
that isn't afraid to offend and always entertains. Lance Carbuncle has
already been proven to be one of the most original writers around. Sloughing off the Slough merely broadens and cements his already infamous reputation.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Mastodon Farm

By Mike Kleine

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Do you remember the TV sit-com Seinfeld? There was one episode that was deemed "about nothing". That describes Mastodon Farm;
a book about nothing. The difference is that Seinfeld was as least
funny, interesting, and not a waste of time. Kleine's exercise into
nothingness is a strange tale told in second person narrative. You hang
around with celebrities, listen to bad music, and makes lists in your
head about rock music, celebrities, and other in-things. Something
similar was done in American Psycho except that had a plot and a
reason. You also name drop a lot and go to cool places like Lake Mead
not quite knowing what to do there. If I had to make a guess at the
theme, I would say Kleine is trying to illustrate the banality and
meaningless of the "good life" that many people crave. I'm sure there
could have been a better way than writing a banal and meaningless book.
The maddening part is that the author is a good writer and I kept going,
hoping that something would happen. Fortunately this book is short at
126 pages so I didn't have to wait long for nothing to happen, So two
stars because it is well written and shows promise for the writer...with
a different book.

Friday, October 11, 2013

By E. L. Doctorow

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Where to start?

This book is about the brain. In general, the
games and tricks our brain plays on us. In specific, it is about the
brain of Andrew, a cognitive scientist who is narrating his life to a
therapist. The vehicle of the book's narrative is a dialogue running
through a series of sessions. Why these sessions are taking place is not
revealed until the end and even then there are many questions. Andrew
is the poster boy for an unreliable narrator. From the beginning there
are moments that may be his life or may be his imagination. For
instance, in the beginning of the novel he speaks of of hearing voices
and walking into a stranger's house. At first he seems to be unsure if
it really happened. But soon he is saying it was an actual incident. The
therapist keeps asking if it was a dream, not quite sure himself. This
scenario plays itself over in many ways. But soon we get a narration
that makes sense, at least for a while. Andrew is a brilliant but
troubled man. He sees himself as being a conduit for a series of tragic
incidents, starting when a hawk carried off his pet dachshund when he
was eight. He partially blames his own ineptitude for these incidents
yet he maintains an uncaring attitude and a disdain for his own stoic
in-humaneness.

Andrew is a hard man to like. To be frank, he
comes across as an arrogant ass. But he is a person we want to
understand. I do not think I ever really understood him and that may be a
weakness of the story. Halfway into the novel and especially at the
end, it appears more and more than some of the events are imagined.
There is one event involving the White House that really came from
nowhere and I couldn't help wondering if it was a fantasy, not unlike
the meerkat island in Life of Pi. But like the therapist, we
are never grounded in Brian's perception of reality. But I am not
sure it is fair to blame the author for being vague, especially in a
novel that is about the illusions of the mind. Doctorow may have led us
exactly where he wanted us. At the end, I got the distinct impression
that Andrew may not have been in his final predicament for the reasons
he said he is. It's that unreliable narrative thing again. That is my
take but I suspect that 100 readers will have 100 different takes on the
ending. Doctorow has appeared to have written a novel that is as
intangible and unpredictable as our own minds.

So what to make of all this? Andrew's Brain
is a fairly simple read, brief at 200 pages, and quite involving. Yet
it is also somewhat perplexing and a little maddening when you think
about it afterwards. Does our perceptions rely on reality or does
reality rely on our perceptions? If you think that is a silly question,
you need to spend a little time in Andrew's brain

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

By Nick Cutter

Rating: 4 out of five stars

If Stephen King says The Troop scared the hell out of him then
it better be scary...right? In this case, the boss of the horror book
blurb got it right. This is one terrifying novel.

"The Troop"
refers to a boy scout troop. In this case, 5 scouts and a scout leader
who are on a camping trip on a uninhabited island. The author Nick
Cutter does a great job setting up the characters of the scouts and
their leader but deftly leaves some important things out which we will
learn about later. The boys are archetypes of teenage angst. You got the
bully, the volatile one, the popular and nearly normal kid, the
picked-on nerd, and the weird kid. But it works here because the
teenagers are quite real in their reactions. They strive in their cliche
with fart jokes, bullying, posturing, and an obsession about girls and
sex. I swear that, somewhere between" Trustworthy" and "Loyal" in the
scout laws, they should have placed the word "Horny". As a former Eagle
scout, I know. But I digress...

Their camping trip is disrupted
by a emaciated man who seems to be very hungry. The scout leader, who is
also the town doctor, realizes that something is wrong and that is when
everything takes off. It not a spoiler to say that our "monster" is
infectious and the result of a lab experiment gone wrong. One of the
cool moves in the novel is that the creature or creatures, in question
actually exists and you would feel pretty upset if you found out one
was existing in you. Now magnify that feeling by a thousand.

Just
leave the island, right? Well the radio busted, the boat is broken and
what are all those naval ships doing out there and why is are they
rescuing us?

OK. Enough set-up. For anything else, you need to
read the book to find out. But if you're looking to be scared, and maybe
more than a little grossed out, this is the perfect read. The author
knows when to lay on the adrenaline and when to back off, keeping the
suspense at a consistent and entertaining level. Cutter inserts reports,
diaries, and court records pertaining to the beginning of the disaster
to help us piece together what is going on as the terror rises. Many
have called this a cross between The Lord of The flies and The Ruins.
It's a good description. One of the themes in this tale pertains to the
frailness of civilized norms and manners when a crisis
arrives...remembering that early adolescent boys are slightly beneath
the brink of civilization to begin with.

Overall, I really
enjoyed this. A really scary novel doesn't show up often, especially one
with such a creative "monster". I wouldn't be surprised if this become
the horror book to read for the year.

Thanks to Netgalley and Gallery books for allowing me to read and review this book in advance. It might be a few days before I can turn the lights off.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

By Bradley Sands

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I was at the doctor's office.

"Well, Doc. It's like this. I have a
headache the size of Baltimore, My nose runs like the winner of
Kentucky Derby, My body is aching for the fjords and I have an
irresistible desire to discuss Existentialism with Nietzsche's horse"

"What have you been reading lately, Marvin?

"Oh, the usual The Great Gatsby, Ulysses, The Exesis of Philip K. Dick at one sentence a day, and unsolicited excerpts from Journey to Virginland".

My
doctor shook his head. He pulled out the rectal thermometer, looked at
it and shook his head again. "It's quite obvious. You are having a bad
case of taking yourself too seriously". He handed me a copy of Bradley
Sand's Please Do Not Shoot Me in the Face.

"Read these
three stories. One for each night then report to me on Thursday. Do not
try to read more than one a night as it could have devastating
consequences."

I left fifteen minutes later, of which ten minutes
of it was spent begging the doctor to put the rectal thermometer back
in. When I got home I looked at the relatively thin book and said,
"Posh! (the Spice Girls were staying the night). I'm the only man who
ever read Ouspensky's In Search of the Miraculous in one night
and survived." So I began reading. Wait! This is actually three novellas.
It's a novel. No, now the author says it isn't. I was getting confused.
I soared through the first novella, a cute little Bizarro comedy called
"Frankie Nougat and the Case of the Missing Heart". I found myself
forgetting about Nietzsche's horse, probably just in time since the
horse was changing into something more comfortable. Frankie is sad and
funny and his dog is cute, talks, and is occasionally a substitute for a gun. Then I turned to
"Cheesequake Smash-up" in which all the fast food franchises are
involved in a destruction derby with floating buildings. Wait a minute.
Is my house moving? I can no longer feel my toes. So I took a break and
asked Posh Spice to feel my toes for me.

Then I read "Apocalypse
Ninja". OK already . The first two were funny but this is a blast. The
world's worst ninja takes on the world's worst pirates. Bradley Sand
writes like a maniac with a chainsaw and I'm liking it. But my body
started to revolt. I was being pummeled by my own intestine totally
unaware that I ripped off that line from a sci-fi novel written by the
2nd president of the United States. I've totally forgotten about
Nietzsche's horse but the fantasy was replaced by visions of ninjas,
floating McDonalds, and talking animals. I began to realize that writing
like a Bizarro author is not as easy as it looks and should be left to
the maniacs with a chainsaw.

So I rushed back to the doctor and he told me to lay off Bizarro for a day or two. Read something trashy like 50 Shades of Grey or Atlas Shrugged before tackling another Bradley Sands Bizarro fest.

"By the way Doc, is it one novel or three novellas?"

"When you win the lotto do you ask if the bills are in 10s or 20s?"

"Good point" Actually it wasn't but he's the Doc.

"One more thing, Doc. Why it is there a cauliflower growing out of my nose and whistling the Ode to Joy?"

By Dave Franklin

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

To be fair, this is not the first story about writers murdering internet book reviewers... let's hope that doesn't become a habit. There is also The E-Book Murders
but that reads more like a treatment for a TV pilot. Neither book is
very well written. I give Mr. Franklin credit for tackling the idea
which is indeed ripe for satire and the novella does has its amusing moments. Yet as satire, his attempt doesn't ring all that
true. His preference for the poor writer is obvious which makes the tale
read like a revenge fantasy. And revenge fantasies are not all that
pleasant to read. Add on one of the stupidest sex scenes I've ever read
and I have to chalk this down as an uninteresting failure.

Besides,
the definite statement of the battle between author and reviewer was
written over 200 years ago by Matthew Gregory Lewis...

"An
author, whether good or bad, or between both, is an animal whom
everybody is privileged to attack; For though all are not able to write
books, all conceive themselves able to judge them."

Sunday, October 6, 2013

By Michael Ponsor

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

There are tons of mysteries and courtroom dramas novel seen in the
perspective of the lawyer, the law enforcement officer, and even the
indicted. But The Hanging Judge may be the first novel I have
read that is mainly in the perspective of the judge. It is because the
author, Michael Posner has been a judge since 1984 is currently a judge
in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts..
It's nice to see a novel written by someone who knows all the facts,
intricacies and problems that abound in our legal system.

Of
course, it is even better that Michael Ponsor is an excellent writer and
shows an amazing amount of promise in his first debut novel. The author
takes on the issue of capital punishment in this taut courtroom drama.
the main protagonist, David Norcross, is a judge with some deep doubts
about the legal system and especially those pertaining to the capital
punishment. He is assigned a case involving a drive-by shooting
resulting in the death of a gang member and a respected member of the
community. It is clear almost from the beginning who is guilty and who
is innocent but that is not really the point. This is more of a drama
than a mystery as its main focus is on the actions and emotions of the
principles who are caught up in the situation. There are no simple
actions or answers throughout this well-developed story. I became very
involved in the tale and pretty much read through the night to see what
would happen. It has a satisfying climax but this is a story that is
too realistic for a Perry Mason "I did it" ending. Various plot
diversions come into being and culminate at the end always staying true
and realistic to the story with good guys, bad guys but mostly people in
between doing things is the best way they know how to.

Yes, I'm
being vague. I have to be because there are so many nice touches to this
novel that I don't want to spoil them. Anyone who enjoy mysteries,
suspense, or courtroom drama should place this on their list as a
must-read.

Friday, October 4, 2013

by Gary Gusick

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

I have to hand it to the author of The Last Clinic for basing
the plot around a controversial topic. I am doubly impressed that Mr.
Cusick is able to write such a good thriller without getting bogged down
in the issue of right to life vs. Pro-choice and being fairly balanced
in his approach. Actually, this mystery isn't so much about abortion
rights as it is about the price of extremism. Or it is simply a tight
and witty mystery that keeps your attention to the end. Take your pick.
Or take both.

Popular anti-abortion preacher, Jimmy Aldridge, is
gunned down while setting up his protest signs in front of one of the
last abortion clinics in Jackson, Mississippi. Of course the main
suspect is good looking clinic doctor Nicoletti and there are plenty of
people who want to nail the murder on him. But when investigator Darla
Cavannah finds $3000 in small bills inside the reverend's car, she
suspects there may be another suspect and another motive.

There
are a lot of nice twists and turns in this tale but it is the characters
that really made this a superior mystery. Darla is a transplanted
northerner whose deceased but well-respected husband makes her a little
less of a stranger in this slightly nepotistic Mississippi city. Her
sheriff friend Shelby is a delightfully charismatic redneck. In fact,
most of the characters in this novel are well-written and full of
eccentricities that endear them to the reader. For that matter, Jackson,
Miss. is practically a character in the book as Cusick writes about it
with such flair. It is not surprising to find that Jackson is Cusick's
real-life hometown. There is only one person in the book that seems a
bit forced and that is a bungling Elvis impersonating police officer but
he does make for good comic relief.

As far as the plot goes,
this is one of the few mysteries that had me guessing to the very end. I
like it when a who-dunnit has many suspects and all of them seem
plausible...including the one that actually "dunnit". There is just the
right amount of seriousness and wit to keep this story entertaining.
This is an easy recommendation for all mystery fans. I understand this
is Gary Cusick's debut novel. Very promising indeed.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

By Dennis Wheatley

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Dennis Wheatley was a very popular writer of British mystery, espionage,
and occult from the 30s to the 60s. His heroes were the precursor to
James Bond in that they tend to be debonair but manly. If The Forbidden Territory
is typical. his characters love adventure, adore the ladies, and relish
a little top secret action now and then. But they seem to be very
British...er...civilized. They never kill unless totally necessary. In
this case, unlike James Bond who had a license to kill, they have a
learner's permit.

The Forbidden Territory was Wheatley's
first published novel (1933) but not his first written novel. His
heroes are essentially a trio consisting of French aristocrat Duke de
Richleau, the Jewish financier Simon Aron, and wealthy American Rex Van
Ryn. One must applaud Wheatley's decision to have such a diverse group
yet on paper they all come out sounding rather British. The plot hinges
around Richleau and Aron going to Soviet Russia to save their friend Rex
from prison. It seems he wandered off to "forbidden territories" that
are closed to foreigners. He does have a secret agenda that supplies the
motive and thrills for this adventure. On the way one of our rescuers,
Simon, has a romance, runs into an especially nasty villain, and all
concerned learn how to fly a plane on the run. If I seem a little tongue
in cheek, it's because I'm not always sure how serious the author
wishes us to take this. It's quite a romp with rather good action but I
feel that the author is saying, "Gee! Isn't this clever?". But all in
all, it's a lot of fun.

One of the more interesting elements is
Wheatley's description of Stalinist Russia in the 30s. I do not know how
accurate his description was for the time but Wheatley did have
military intelligence background. He does seem to get across a good
sense of what it may have been like to live under this dictatorship yet
also communicate the basic geniality of the Russians. In this way, this
novel may be a capsule of the British's, and American's, perception of
the pre-cold war Soviet Union. It is one of the most interesting part
of the book. But it is basically good adventure tale and a popular one
for its time. Recommended for those who like rip-roaring tales and
foreign intrigue.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

By Thomas Tryon

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Those who are familiar with Thomas Tryon's first two more novels, The Other and Harvest Home might find Lady a little perplexing. Yet it may also be the now deceased author's best and most realized work. While Lady
still has a Gothic setting, taking place in Tryon's mythical New
England town Pequot Landing where the other two books take part, this
novel is not remotely a horror story. It is part mystery and part
coming-of-age story and a very good one at that. The author excels at
creating an eerie and haunting environment while involving the reader
into early 20th century life complete with its town secrets and slowly
emerging scandals. Woody, the narrator, tells of his childhood beginning
at the age of eight focusing on his close friendship with Adelaide
Harleigh who is usually called Lady. The sometimes moody widow is friend
and mentor to Woody but there are still many secrets about her that he
questions; Such as what happened to her husband, why does she switch so
quickly from elegant joviality to brooding solidarity, and who is that
strange red-headed man who shows up now and then. The answer to these
and other questions may seem somewhat lame to today's readers but in the
period this novel takes places (1930s) it was quite shocking. For that
matter, the younger readers may be surprised to know that this was a
fairly shocking ending in 1974, the year Lady was first published. The times have changed.

But
it is not the ending that stands out. Tyron has written a haunting time machine
of a novel taking us back the the 30s with exquisite detail and a
understanding of the slower snow-globe existence of a small town.
Sensitive characters round-out this novel which is deserving of re-issue
in e-book format by Open Road Media and equally deserving of new discovery by new readers.

About Me

My name is Marvin P. Vernon and I am a retired social worker who specialized in family therapy and domestic violence prevention. In the past, I have been a contributor to the Fact on File Student Thesaurus and currently pass my time as an avid reader and reviewer. I also work as a volunteer librarian at the Sun City Palm Desert Library. You can also find my reviews on Goodreads You can contact me at mpvernon5149@yahoo.com